Thumb or finger guard for infants and children



July 1954 F. G. UMBENHOWER 2,684,055

THUMB oR FINGER GUARD FOR INFANTS AND CHILDREN Original Filed April 4, 1950 Fig. .1

INVENTOR. FRANK G UMBENHO WER Patented July 20, 1954 UNITED STATS O E Fl I. II

THUMB OR FINGER, GUARD EUR INFANTS AND CHELDREN Frank G. Umbenhower, Silverton, Greg.

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to improvements in thumb guards for infants and small children who have acquired the habit of sucking their thumbs.

This application is a substitute for my original application Serial Number 153,857, filed April 4, 1950.

It is one of the principal objects of the invention to provide a device of this character which is of light-weight durable construction, comfortable to wear and effective in its operation. Another important object of the invention is the provision of a guard of this kind which may be securely fastened to the hand of a user but which will yield to the bending of the thumb or finger to prevent injury to the finger which sometimes occurs when a guard of rigid construction is used.

A still further object is the provision of means for quickly and conveniently disassembling the device for cleaning purposes and also for conveniently reassembling and attaching to the finger of the user.

These and other objects will appear as my invention is more fully hereinafter described in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and finally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a thumb guard made in accordance with my invention and shown attached to the hand of a child which I have shown in broken lines.

Figure 2 is an enlarged top plan view of the invention partly in section for convenience of illustration.

Figure 3 is a slightly enlarged end elevation of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional detail view of a fastening means.

Referring now more particularly to the draw- 111g;

The guard proper comprises a body member generally indicated at i, made of stainless steel, silver wire or the like, of spiral formation, gradually increasing in diameter from the tip to the rearward or open end. Secured by any suitable means such as soldering or the like to two or more of the turns of the wire at the open end thereof is a pair of sockets indicated at 3 and d which are split lengthwise as at 5 to receive links 6 of a flexible ball chain made up of a plurality of balls I, interconnected by the links.

The ball chains indicated at 8 and 9 in Figures 1 and 2 may be of any length necessary to This application May extend from the open end of the guard to a wrist band also in the form of a ball chain It to which said chains 8 and d are secured as at I i.

The ends of the wrist band it are removably secured to each other by means of a tubular fitting E2 which is slotted throughout its length as at l3 for receiving the links of the wrist band in the same manner in which the links of the chains 3 and 9 engage with the brackets 3 and :l.

The tip 2 of the guard is formed by bending the tip end of the wire tightly back on itself as best illustrated in Figure 3 to present a smooth rounded end to prevent accidental snagging of material or surfaces with which the guard may come in contact. The body member is preferably made of light gauge spring wire spirally wound in equally spaced apart coils as shown so that it will yield throughout its length to movement of the thumb of the wearer.

While I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A thumb guard of the class described comprising in combination a body member made of spirally wound spring wire adapted to embrace the thumb of the wearer and being yieldable throughout its length to movement of the thumb, body member being formed of equally spaced-apart coils gradually increasing in diameter from the forward to the rear end of the body member, a pair of split sockets secured to the rear end of said body member at diametrically opposed points, a pair of ball chains having their one end removably secured to said sockets, a split wrist band comprising a ball chain having one of its ends provided with a slotted tubular fitting whereby the balls of the other end of the chain may be selectively engaged with said fitting to vary the diameter of the wrist band, said pair of ball chains having their opposite ends permanently secured to said wrist band whereby the distance between said wrist band and the rear end of the body member may be lengthened or shortened by selective engagement with the ends of said pair of ball chains with said split sockets.

No references cited. 

